Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – International incoming telephone call charge has been reduced from US$ 4 cents to US$ 3 cents with effect from midnight on Monday night, an official announcement said.
Post and Telecommunications Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu announced the decision while speaking as chief guest at the concluding ceremony of a two-day program organized in Chittagong to mark the ‘World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD)-2009.
“I would like to announce that the international incoming call rate will be cut from the existing 4 cents to 3 cents,” the minister added.
Currently, the amount of international calls to and from Bangladesh is around 60 million minutes a day. The four international gateways (IGWs), including the three private sector operators, handle 20 million minutes a day. The illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) operators handle the remaining calls, The Daily Star, a local newspaper, reported.
However, domestic call handlers observed that the government might incur a revenue loss of US$ 145 million (BDT10 billion) this month because of the minister’s sudden announcement, the newspaper reported.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-19May09-1:31 am (BST)
